With new trainer Robert Garcia of Oxnard in tow, Chavez will fight Marcos Reyes on Saturday night in a 10-round super middleweight bout at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas.
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Chavez has for a decade been annually among the sport’s biggest disappointments and wastes of talent.
And when it’s attached to his name, Marcos Reyes finds it particularly offensive.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. throws a punch during his loss to Andrzej Fonfara on April 18, 2015.
Much was made of Chavez working with trainer Joe Goosen for the first time when he fought Fonfara.
He’s had the best of the best of the best when it comes to trainers. “He needs to show everybody who the real Chavez Jr.is”. Junior was a star from the moment he turned pro because of his name and his father’s résumé.
He’s been generally unimpressive in three fights since – winning a disputed decision from Brian Vera while weighing 172½ pounds in 2013 and taking a more decisive verdict from him at 167½ in 2014.
“Chavez is the son of a giant, but there’s a saying that goes ‘the sons of giants are dwarfs.’ They never live up to expectations and become giants like their fathers”. And yet, he still performed miserably against a guy he should have dominated.
While Reyes, a career average and average young, weighed in £ 168,4, in the maximum 170 pound frame, and Chavez was £ 170,8. “I fought somebody after 13 months being inactive”.
Chavez Jr. (48-2-1, 32 knockouts) will fight Mexico’s Marcos Reyes (33-2, 24 KOs) in the main event of a Showtime/CBS doubleheader from El Paso, Texas, that also includes the US debut of Ireland’s unbeaten light-featherweight world champion Carl Frampton (20-0) as the CBS afternoon headliner. Robert Garcia, at this juncture, is only going to be able to teach an old dog so many new tricks and the rest will be up to the fighter.
Even with all this said, one has to think, is it even worth it? I feel this is the best part of my career, and on [Saturday], I’m going to win.
“When I work with him, he’s teaching me to use my jab more, my defense … the basics of boxing”. “There’s nobody in boxing who can beat me when I fight at my weight”.
To suggest otherwise is to be hopelessly naïve.
This, however, is not entirely fair to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. The right time to beat Chavez is now. In the most significant bout of his career, though, he didn’t give anywhere near the kind of effort that was needed to beat a crafty, classy veteran like Martinez. Whether Chavez ignored Goosen’s instructions and training camp tutelage (highly plausible) or they just crafted a Bizzaro World gameplan (highly unlikely), something was off. Chavez plodded forward with his arms at his waist and his head jutting forward – an excellent strategy if your intention is to eat flush shots. Chavez is a strong fighter with a tough chin and doesn’t go down easily. Instead, Chavez feels put upon.
With Garcia in his corner, Perez struggled early on with Sanchez, who took the fight on less than two weeks’ notice when Sharif Bogere had to withdraw after suffering an undisclosed injury during training. I don’t understand what Nacho Beristain’s problem is. “In the past he has criticized me and also criticized other people”.
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But the question that remains is whether people will care. The concern with Reyes in this bout is that he has yet to fight somebody as talented as Chavez and doesn’t have the resume to match.
